Smith: Watching history unfold in real time

The Supreme Court's decision to support marriage equality for same-sex couples was an historic event; one that was truly monumental in its cultural and legal significance.

Yet, the top read story at www.dailydemocrat.com on Thursday was about the Woodland man who was stabbed at the Dunton Motel, followed closely by the opening of the new Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market. Sometimes, it's really hard to judge the interest of readers, particularly when it comes to major events.

Why this is interesting for me is because to a large degree The Democrat's website is offering identical information as that of our big city brethren. No, we're not the New York Times, but we do provide information written by The Washington Post, Denver Post, Bloomberg and, of course, The Associated Press. We even have an office in New York City which constantly "populates" our website with stories from around the world.

When people still relied on only the printed edition, local news was king. It has been drummed into my head for more than 30 years that our news should be local, local, local. Anything less, and we weren't living up to our mandate.

Today, however, more people are reading The Democrat online and the major stories can be significant, such as the Supreme Court recognizing same-sex marriage or minor like a drunk driving arrest. People will also read a lot of celebrity news, which is a failing of mine. I've never thought news about celebrities was important and have a strong urge to ignore it all. Yet, I can't argue with the fact that stories about -- What's her name -- Paula Deen draws readers.

The editorial page editor of the Denver Post, Curtis Hubbard, wrote an interesting column this week about how things have changed in the news business. Hubbard is moving on to do public relations work.

After being in the business two decades (and I've been in it since 1980), Hubbard writes: "In 1993, information was gathered by working your beat, standing sentry at a fax machine or working the phones, which were tethered to walls and, in rare cases, cars.

"Reporters generally had two or fewer deadlines on a given day. Photographers didn't know until they were in the darkroom whether they'd captured an image.

"Now, digital drives everything," says Hubbard. "Daily deadlines have been replaced with tweets, live-blogging and real-time updates. Keeping up with news from anywhere is but a few keystrokes away.

"Except for food, booze and aspirin, most of the items reporters used to keep at their desks -- telephones, tape recorders, Rolodexes, phone books, maps, calculators and cameras -- are now slipped into pockets on a single "smartphone."

Readers increasingly expect us to deliver breaking news, in-depth reporting, photos, video and more. The demand will only increase, as more than half of U.S. adults now own mobile devices.

Sometimes, I feel like Hubbard: A bit out of date.

Perhaps, I'm still finding my way as the news industry evolves and the tastes of readers changes.